THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 95 



see again. It was tlie Soutliern Cross. Just visible in that 

 winter season on the extreme southern horizon in early morn- 

 ing, it hung upright amid the dim haze of the lowland and the 

 smoke of the sugar-works. Impressive as was, and always 

 must be, the first sight of that famous constellation, I could 

 not but agree with those who say that they are disappointed 

 by its inequality, both in shape and in the size of its stars. 

 However, I had but little time to make up my mind about 

 it ; for in five minutes more it had melted away into a blaze 

 of sunlight, which reminded us that we ought to have been 

 on foot half an hour before. 



So away we went over the dewy paddocks, through broad- 

 leaved grasses, and the pink balls of the sensitive-plants 

 and blue Commelyna, and the upright Xegro Ipecacuanha,^ 

 with its scarlet and yellow flowers, gayest and commonest 

 of weeds ; then down into a bamboo copse, and across a 

 pebbly brook, and away toward the mountains. 



Our party consisted of a bat-mule, with food and clothes, 

 two or three lN"egros, a horse for me, another for general use 

 in case of break-down ; and four gentlemen who preferred 

 walking to ridinf;^. It seemed at first a serious undertaking: 

 on their part ; but one had only to see them begin to move, 

 long, lithe, and light as deer-hounds, in their flannel shirts 

 and trousers, with cutlass and pouch at their waists, to be sure 



^ Asclepias curussavica. 



